Astronomers join forces to speed discovery of habitable worlds
UC Berkeley astronomers will lead one of 16 new projects funded by NASA to coordinate different exoplanet searches to more efficiently find habitable planets around other stars, and perhaps...
View ArticleAncient star raises prospects of intelligent life
Can life survive for billions of years longer than the expected timeline on Earth? As scientists discover older and older solar systems, it's likely that before long we'll find an ancient planet in a...
View ArticleKepler's six years in science (and counting)
NASA's Kepler spacecraft began hunting for planets outside our solar system on May 12, 2009. From the trove of data collected, we have learned that planets are common, that most sun-like stars have at...
View ArticleCircular orbits for small extrasolar planets
Orbits of 74 small extrasolar planets are found to be close to circular, in contrast to previous measurements of massive exoplanets. The results, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal are...
View ArticleWhat are extrasolar planets?
For countless generations, human beings have looked out at the night sky and wondered if they were alone in the universe. With the discovery of other planets in our solar system, the true extent of the...
View ArticleEarth-like planets are more likely to orbit Sun-like stars than lower-mass stars
Simulations by researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tsinghua University indicate that Earth-like planets are more likely to be found orbiting Sun-like stars rather than lower-mass stars...
View ArticleResearchers identify circular orbits for 74 small exoplanets
Viewed from above, our solar system's planetary orbits around the sun resemble rings around a bulls-eye. Each planet, including Earth, keeps to a roughly circular path, always maintaining the same...
View ArticleWhat is the habitable zone?
The weather in your hometown is downright uninhabitable. There's scorching heatwaves, annual tyhpoonic deluges, and snow deep enough to bury a corn silo.
View ArticleIf we are to find life beyond Earth, we need to be explorers, not hunters
The news that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is to receive increased funding and data through the $100m (£64m) Breakthrough Listen project is welcome news for astrobiologists like myself....
View ArticleMini-Neptunes might host life under right conditions
M-dwarfs, which are cooler than our sun, have habitable zones closer to the stars. As such, any habitable planets orbiting these stars would transit frequently, making the chances of discovery better.
View ArticleIs science drawing closer to an alien world?
NASA's discovery of Earth-like exoplanet Kepler-452b, nicknamed "Earth 2.0", has social media buzzing about the chances of finding a faraway world, possibly with alien life or key resources such as water.
View ArticleAstronomers discover a tenth transiting "Tatooine"
Astronomers at the 29th International Astronomical Union General Assembly will announce on August 14 the discovery of a new transiting "circumbinary" planet, bringing the number of such known planets...
View ArticleInterstellar seeds could create oases of life
We only have one example of a planet with life: Earth. But within the next generation, it should become possible to detect signs of life on planets orbiting distant stars. If we find alien life, new...
View ArticleMove over Milky Way, elliptical galaxies are the most habitable in the cosmos
The search for extraterrestrial life is surely one of the most important tasks we humans can undertake. However, the cosmos is vast and we don't really have any idea which bits of it are actually...
View ArticleRocky planets may be habitable depending on their 'air conditioning system'
The quest for potentially habitable planets is often interpreted as the search for an Earth twin. And yet, some rocky planets outside our Solar System may in fact be more promising candidates for...
View ArticleAstronomers devise 'habitability index' to guide future search
Powerful telescopes are coming soon. Where exactly shall we point them?
View ArticleMost earth-like worlds have yet to be born, according to theoretical study
Earth came early to the party in the evolving universe. According to a new theoretical study, when our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago only eight percent of the potentially habitable...
View ArticleTwin civilisations? How life on an exoplanet could spread to its neighbour
Imagine two nearby exoplanets orbiting the same sun, each with its own indigenous civilisation. They're going through history either as companionable neighbours or deadly rivals. This is a familiar...
View ArticleNearby star hosts closest alien planet in the 'habitable zone'
UNSW Australia astronomers have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet found outside our solar system so far, orbiting a star just 14 light years away.
View ArticleKepler marks 1,000th exoplanet discovery, uncovers more small worlds in...
How many stars like our sun host planets like our Earth? NASA's Kepler Space Telescope continuously monitored more than 150,000 stars beyond our solar system, and to date has offered scientists an...
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